


wild women don't get the blues

by orphan_account



Category: ITZY (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Coming of Age, F/M, Prom, it's an american high school!au btw, it's very yeji and lucas centric, mitski is a god, so most of the other characters are background lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-18 22:30:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22000891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: unrequited love isn't so nice to teenage girls like yeji.
Relationships: Hwang Yeji/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas (one-sided), Lee Chaeryeong/Xiao Dejun (mentioned), Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas/Lee Chaeryeong (one-sided)
Kudos: 21





	wild women don't get the blues

lucas doesn't like her back. she knows this for sure.

yeji's crush on him sprouted in sixth grade, when the jubilant boy asked for a pencil and paused to admire her nails. they were a simple hot pink color, an offer from the nice lady at the nail salon while her mom was getting her nails done. at the time, yeji never cared for something so minuscule as nails. their only purpose was to protect the fingertips and cover the soft tissue of the fingers. any decoration was simply just for show. and yeji was never one to show off.

but it just wasn't a pause that lucas did. oh no. if it was simply a pause, she would've forgotten about this moment as quickly as it happened.

it started with a simple yet hesitant touch to the fingers. yeji had passed him the pencil over her shoulder, already preoccupied with the writing assignment she choose to do alone. she felt the pencil slipping from her fingertips and retracted her hand but was stopped as lucas held it in place. "woah," he said, voice in a different tone than usual, "your nails."

she turned around partially, as to put her arm in a more comfortable position, and could've grabbed her own hand back from his hold and carry on with her writing but, for some reason, she just stared as he admired her nails. he held each finger close to his eyes, as if he was trying to find any flaws that the nail lady missed, and when he was content, politely asked yeji for the other hand.

she thought this was kinda weird. she put her other hand out anyways.

it was the same procedure and yeji felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze. she already knew that lucas was one of the cutest boys in her grade but she had to focus more on her studies.

he gently placed her hand down and looked up at her. and smiled, toothy grin and all. "sorry for being kinda creepy." he says and leans in closer to whisper to yeji, as if it was the biggest secret in the world, "but your nails are really pretty."

he gets up to leave and gives her another toothy grin - one that makes her heart swoon - and walks over to his rowdy friends, no doubt talking about the prettiest girls or football games or whatever sixth grade boys talk about.

she places one hand on the other and puts them on her chest. her gaze never leaves lucas.

since then, yeji's been getting her nails done at the same salon, hoping that lucas will notice them again. he doesn't.

\--

one day, in gym, the teacher decided that the group of unmotivated teenagers would play a game from their childhood: dodgeball. he picked his two favorites - ryujin and lucas - as team captains and everyone else lined up on the black tape of the gymnasium floor. one by one, everyone around her was picked and sent off to a team. it was no surprise to yeji; she's not the most athletic person in school. (she's still trying to live down the infamous soccer incident of freshman year but no needs to bring that up again.)

it gets down to her and some other boy. what was his name again? kun? no, that was another kid. was it kunhang? it was kunhang, right? _yes, it was,_ yeji decides after giving him a quick glance, _the boy's name had to be kunhang._

lucas and ryujin flip a coin and lucas gets last pick. the expression on his face is unreadable at best and even yeji can feel a bit of sweat trickle down her back under the immense pressure. his hand slowly starts to raise and she swears it starts to move towards her before it quickly changes directions, almost going unnoticed, and points to the boy next to yeji.

"kunhang!" he says, shouting almost. the other boy smiles in response and walks over to lucas's group and yeji, hiding her dejected emotions, walks over to ryujin's group.

the whistle blows and the game starts. yeji is the first to be out. she turns to look at the person who threw the ball at her and sees kunhang's excited grin plastered on his face, another ball already in his hand. lucas gives him a pat on the back when they pass each other.

she walks back to the line and waits for the period to be over. her group wins but it doesn't matter when she sees lucas gives kunhang a side hug, giving him compliments for days. he turns his head and makes eye contact with yeji. she wonders if he's mocking her, as if he knows about her longing to be in his place, and slides an arm around lucas's waist. she watches the two boys walk into the locker room and turns her head back around.

when she sits in her last class of the day, jisu asks if she wants to hang out with her and another friend today. yeji asks who the other friend is.

"kunhang." jisu responds, "do you know him?"

"yeah, i know him." yeji says, "but i don't think i'll be able to. i have too much homework tonight."

the bell rings and yeji leaves before jisu can remember that she always finishes her homework during school.

\--

lucas messages yeji one day.

she was in her bedroom doing her homework when she got the notification. she wonders when they ever exchanged numbers as she opens the message.

_lucas: hey yeji! i have a question_

she arches an eyebrow.

_yeji: What is it?_

the three dots pop up and she waits in anticipation.

_lucas: you're friends with chaeryeong right??_

_since they were babies,_ yeji thinks.

_yeji: Yes._

_lucas: do you know if she has a date to prom?_

and, all of a sudden, it makes sense. for the past week, lucas has been hanging around her and chaeryeong. they all have first period together and he always goes up to them before class starts, saying a very excited 'good morning' to both of them. at first, she thought he was trying to be friends with the both of them again, since the last time he's ever talked to either of them was sixth grade.

and then came this morning, when yeji was running slightly late but walked into the classroom just in time to see lucas and chaeryeong talk to each other. at first, a feeling of shock went through her spine when she saw how close the two were, leaving little space between them. she watched as his fingers slowly traced her wrist and the way they smiled back at each other before the teacher started class. 

she tried her best to repress that moment from her mind but, out of all the friends chaeryeong had, he just _had_ to ask her.

_yeji: No._

she bites her lip and decides to send the next text in a flurry.

_yeji: Are you gonna ask her?_

a pause. three dots. then another pause. then the three dots come back.

_lucas: yea :-)))_

_lucas: but dont tell her pls!! i wanna keep it a secret_

she sighs.

_yeji: Ok._

she puts her phone on silent and throws it on the bed. there's no time to dwell on boys who don't like her back. she goes back to writing her english essay, trying to forget what she saw that morning and curses lucas silently in her head for distracting her so much.

the next day, lucas makes a public promposal to chaeryeong, with a sign and flowers. she accepts. they take pictures, all smiles and happiness, until they tire of the flash of phone cameras. chaeryeong goes up to yeji with the poster and flower in her hands.

"do you like him?" yeji asks.

"no." chaeryeong shrugs, "not really. he's cute and everything but i just don't feel anything towards him."

yeji feels a wave of relief go over her.

"besides," the other girl continues, "i wouldn't do that to my best friend."

chaeryeong gives a wink to yeji and, before she can asks how she knows, the girl is already off to her next class.

\--

prom night has come and chaeryeong, jisu, and yeji meet with ryujin at her house to get ready. jisu has a simple yet beautiful bright red dress on and ryujin has decided on a fancy navy blue two-piece jumpsuit. chaeryeong comes out with a backless velvet light pink dress and yeji can't help but think that lucas is gonna fall in love with her the second he lays her eyes on her.

ryujin calls yuna over and asks if she has extra lash glue. the younger sister comes back with a small tube and stays to watch the rest of the girls finish their makeup, sitting on the bed patiently. yeji thinks it's cute. after all, she only has one more year until high school starts. she wants to tell yuna that but decides against it, not wanting to make the silence between them even more awkward.

yuna does, however, compliment yeji on her nails. they're clear with gold flakes for decoration. she got them to add something exciting to her otherwise simple prom look. she thanks her. it's the only conversation they ever have that day.

a text message pops up on chaeryeong's phone and yeji reads the name out loud to her. "who's yukhei?"

"oh! that's lucas's real name!" she says, still putting on her mascara, "just tell him we're almost done."

when they all huddle together to take a group photo, yeji's simple black dress with spaghetti straps and somewhat of a high slit stands out the most. she can't help but feel a bit underdressed for the occasion and wishes that she cared more about prom.

they meet up with the boys at the restaurant, the boys all dressed in similar suits and flowers corresponding with their respective dates' dresses pinned on their lapels. the pairs sit together at the table: jisu and kunhang, ryujin and yangyang, chaeryeong and lucas, yeji and dejun. the waiter comes and get their orders.

yeji picks up bits of conversations here and there. jisu and kunhang talk about their classes and the ap biology test they had to take on friday. jisu thinks she did a really good job on it but kunhang has his own doubts about his own performance. ryujin and yangyang both look at memes on their phones, showing the other one when they find something really funny. their fits of laughter aren't too loud but yeji's scared that it might attract more attention to the table. lucas subtly flirts with chaeryeong, placing his hand over her hand on the table and giving her his undivided attention. chaeryeong talks about her new shoes, her cousins, and a movie she wants to go see. yeji wonders if he's actually listening to her or just nodding along.

dejun takes a sip of his water. they don't know each other enough to talk a lot since both of them were just paired together by their own friend groups. the pregnant silence between them is almost deafening.

"so, uhh," dejun says, fixing his tie, "do you do any sports?"

yeji shrugs. "i did soccer once."

he chuckles a bit. "yeah, i remember."

and, suddenly, yeji realizes that dejun was the exact person that kicked that ball in her face and made her nose bleed.

"how's your nose by the way?" he asks, "i never got around to asking you after, you know, that incident."

she gives him a curt smile. "it's okay. i didn't get injured."

he tilts his head. "but your nose bled."

as if on cue, she scratches the bridge of her nose. "the doctor said i was okay."

"oh." he nods. and there's a silence between them again.

"and," yeji speaks up, "sometimes... my nose just bleeds. it happened a lot when i was younger so you probably didn't make my nose bleed."

he gives a small smile. "you don't have to make me feel like i did nothing wrong."

she shrugs again. "chances are you probably didn't."

they eat, take photos, and carpool to the dance. yeji doesn't do much until ryujin drags her on to the dance floor with both jisu and chaeryeong. their favorite songs come on and it feels like it's just all four of them alone, in ryujin's bedroom, dancing and singing to all of the songs in the middle of the crowd of high school students. they all have a good time until the dj switches off to a slower, romantic song.

one by one, the girls are taken away by their own dates and yeji stands alone for a bit until she goes off in search of dejun. she asks yangyang if he's seen him and, to both of their surprises, he thought dejun went outside with her.

she finds him eventually. but he's got another girl pressed against one of the pilars outside of the school. she watches them from afar, through the window of the door, and leaves, a funny feeling in her gut.

she sends a text to her prom groupchat. _leaving early. im really tired._

her house isn't far from school so she takes both of her heels off and decides to walk home barefoot, the crisp air of autumn sending a chill through her spine. she ponders as she walks, asking herself questions like _who was that girl?_ and _why didn't dejun tell her anything?_ and _why didn't lucas ask her to prom instead?_

her thoughts get interrupted by the black car that pulls up alongside her. her first instinct is to throw her heels at the car, afraid that the driver's intent is to harm her, until the window rolls down to show lucas's face.

"hey." he says, "you gonna walk home all alone?"

she stops and shrugs. "yeah, i guess."

he gives her an incredulous look. "you're really gonna walk home all alone on a cold night with no shoes on?"

she realizes how stupid she must look right now. "i mean, unless you have other suggestions-

"let me take you home."

she pauses. "what?"

he stares back at her. "let me take you home."

sixth grade yeji would be ecstatic if she knew that in the future, she would be riding in lucas wong's car. an old hip-hop song in cantonese plays on the radio and she can hear lucas mumble a few words along to it. it's kinda cute.

"so, uhh," he says, dialing down the volume, "i saw your text in the groupchat."

she almost forget he was in it. "oh, yeah. umm, i just wasn't feeling it anymore."

"did it, maybe," he turns a corner, "have something to do with dejun?"

shit, she thinks. "no, not really."

he glances at her. "are you sure?"

she looks back. "why do you think that?"

he lets out a chuckle but it's not a happy chuckle. "yeji, i saw them too."

yeji knew that dress looked familiar. "you did?"

"yeah," his tone changes, "i saw you leave too. i didn't know what to say so i just let you go."

"oh." yeji isn't sure how to respond to that.

there's a silence until lucas breaks it. "did you like dejun?"

"no. did you like chaeryeong?"

he shrugs. "maybe."

she turns her head. "maybe?"

he clicks his tongue. "i thought there was something going on between us but... i guess not."

yeji wants to tell him that she knew from the beginning that chaeryeong didn't like him back. and that chaeryeong didn't get with them for the sake of yeji's stupid dumb feelings towards him that still have yet to die down from sixth grade. she wants to tell him that she's always been here for him, waiting for him to do something so little like notice her nails or pick her to put on his dodgeball team so that she could fall in love all over again. but he's done nothing. and yet, she longs. she longs for his fingers to trace hers, to flash her that toothy grin that flipped her world upside down, to give her something - a reason, a moment, a love - that could give her some closure to this and finally end it once and for all. she wants him to hold her hand, to hug her, to stay up all night talking to her. she wants him to care. she wants him to love. she wants him.

but she just settles on, "oh. i'm sorry.'

they get to her house and, as lucas goes to give her a fist bump, he grabs her fingers. "your nails, yeji." he says, in the same exact tone he did in sixth grade, "they're beautiful."

he holds each finger in his hand, moving them in a way that they shine in the car light, and she already gives him the other hand without him asking. he stares at them for a while before looking up at her. and there it is. that toothy grin. that stupid toothy grin that started this whole mess.

"i see your nails have gone a long way from sixth grade." he says, finally letting go of her hands.

she smiles. "thanks."

"yeah," he says, "your dad home?"

she nods. "he got out of the hospital last month."

"oh, that's good." he says, "my mom was praying for him."

"tell her i said thank you." she responds and opens the car door.

she looks over her shoulder. "thanks for the ride, lucas."

"yukhei."

she's already outside of his car, standing up with one hand on the door ready to close it, when she hears him mumble something. "what?"

"my real name." he says, "it's yukhei."

 _i know_ , yeji thinks. "why do you go by lucas then?"

"my parents got lucas from some actor. but, at home, they call me yukhei." he responds.

he peers up at her, flashing that toothy grin again, "but i've never told anyone outside of my family that."

her smile drops slightly. "is that so?" she said, concealing her disappointment as best as she can.

he nods. "yep. you're the only one who knows."

yeji raises her eyebrows. "can i ask you something, lucas?"

"you can call me yukhei now."

what a joke, she thinks. "sorry, yukhei. can i ask you something?"

"ask away."

she leans on the open car window with her elbows. "are you related to chaeryeong?"

he shakes his head. "eww, no. i'd be going to prom with my cousin then."

"that's funny." she says, holding her stare on him, "then why is it that she knows your real name too?"

the facial expression on his face drops. her stare has become a cold glare now and whatever trace of a smile she had on her lips is gone.

after a long pause, yeji says, "drive safe, lucas." she turns around and walks to her door, knowing that lucas's eyes are still on her as she gets her keys out and unlocks the door. she looks over her shoulder again to see that same exact dumbfounded expression on his face. and turns her head right back again. and walks into her house.

it isn't until she closes the door and turns on the light that she hears lucas's car drive away.

\--

lucas doesn't like her back. she knows this for sure.

but now she isn't so sure she likes him either.

**Author's Note:**

> title from first love/late spring by mitski


End file.
